This in from the council, in their own words. Ed
Message from Leader of the Isle of Wight council, Cllr Dave Stewart, ahead of Full Council meeting tonight (Wednesday).
“The break in the council’s regular business over the summer has created time for me to think about the various challenges we face over the short and medium term, and how best we can respond to them to ensure we are financially balanced and sustainable.
“It will not have escaped members’ attention that in recent months the media have reported many local authorities are having to react to the current financial position in which they find themselves.
“Northamptonshire, Torbay, Somerset and East Sussex, were all highlighted at the start of the summer and more recently Oxfordshire, Surrey, Suffolk, Lancashire, Birmingham, West Sussex and Hartlepool have all joined the list.
“I was particularly struck by a paragraph in the Best Value Inspection report, commissioned by government, about the challenges at Northamptonshire County Council (NCC), which read:
“For a number of years, NCC has failed to manage its budget and has not taken effective steps to introduce and maintain budgetary control. Instead, it has pursued an organisational structure and operating concept which made it difficult to ensure a line of sight over costs and operational activity. It did not accompany this structure with an articulated set of financial and managerial controls. This made it impossible for the council, as a whole, to have any clarity or understanding as to what was going on. NCC has relied on one-off items, allocation of balances, windfalls and the use of capital receipts to balance the numbers at the year’s end. This is not budget management.”
“I am pleased to report that, over the last two years, the Isle of Wight Council has not been in this position due to the robust financial decisions we have taken.
“A look at the financial element of the quarterly performance management report considered by Cabinet on the 13 September, underlines this point. Our current year end projection for 2018/19 is for savings/underspend against planned expenditure of £0.5m and this follows a similar positive result at the end of the last financial year.
“As we start to turn our minds to the 2019/20 budget, I am determined we continue to maintain our budget discipline and stick to the medium-term financial strategy that has given us a strong foundation.
“I recognise that while our journey will never be easy, we have already made good progress and I would pay testimony to our staff for that. Our challenge now is to be clear about what is to be done and speed up the pace of progress, so we can be ahead of the game.
“There is no doubt this will mean further tough and difficult decisions to come but we cannot allow ourselves to descend into the Northamptonshire position.
“It is also worth reminding ourselves that despite its position, Northamptonshire is still dealing with its budget challenges from within its own resources.
“I recognise that while these are challenging times, as leader of this council I want to be absolutely clear to our residents about our financial position and we will continue to make responsible decisions on behalf of the Island.”
Image: © With kind permission of Allan Marsh
